As you can see on the left, this retreat wasn't taken at just any ole Days Inn along the interstate.

This is the St. Regis Monarch Beach hotel in Dana Point, which as you can see looks like a pretty nice place for a work retreat.

The AIG group ran up a bill of over $400,000 for their week.

Think about that. The feds have just saved their company, and their gift back to the taxpayer is a chic field trip.

"The rooms start at $425 a night," scoffed Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD.)

"Some are more than $1,200 a night, by the way, that's more than some of my constituents pay on a mortgage payment every month," said Cummings.

"AIG spent - listen to this one - $23,000 at the hotel spa and another $1,400 at the salon," thundered Cummings at a Congressional hearing.

Go to the St. Regis Monarch Beach web site and you'll find a great line about the spa.

"Each treatment begins with the toss of a coin into our "Well of Desires," where symbolically all your cares will be left behind," it says.

"They were getting their manicures, their facials, their pedicures and their massages, while the American people were footing the bill," the Maryland Democrat added.

If you want to see the actual bill, you can find it on the web, courtesy of the Committee on Oversight at http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20081007102513.pdf

Personally, I was horrified to see that they spent more at the spa than on the golf course.

A company spokesman, who now basically has every American citizen as a shareholder, said the trip had been misrepresented by lawmakers, saying it was a reward for sales agents, not just executives.

"The AIG Life: Emergency Loans and a Luxury Hotel," read the headline in the Los Angeles Times.

"Executives Lived It Up on Bailout Money," read another.

One test of the Congress will be whether this story gets more air time in the future before the Congress, or whether it just sort of fades away like lots of other oversight hearings that I've covered over the years.